


Ever the Same Travail

by northofthehouse



Category: EXO (Band), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Attempt at Humor, Boys In Love, Coming of Age, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Multi, Mutual Pining, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-07 03:40:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15900153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/northofthehouse/pseuds/northofthehouse
Summary: “Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect.”  ― Luna LovegoodOr, orphan Jongin goes to Hogwarts, finds a family, and falls in love along the way.





	Ever the Same Travail

**Author's Note:**

> Hi OP! Wow, what a journey and a pleasure this was to write. I'm fairly certain this is the longest stand-alone piece I've ever written, so I hope it does your prompt justice. If not, I hope you enjoy this baby mammoth anyway.
> 
> Also, thank you to the very understanding mods of this fest. I'm sorry this was so late!
> 
> P.S. Please read the end note. It's got important spoilers that you might care to know. Enjoy!

**First Year: Part One**

Jongin Kim of East Clapham Children’s Home had never known his parents. He had no reason to believe he was anything particularly special or unique; there was, after all, a large number of other children who lived with him at the orphanage and they didn’t know their parents either.

When each of those children turned 11, however, they were given a customary pass from chores for the day and that was that.

When Jongin turned 11...well, let’s just say he was something special after all.

“I’ve never heard of this Hogwarts,” the house matron told Jongin imperiously. “But if it’ll get you out of my hair, I’m happy to let them have you.”

This was not very fair of her--Jongin was an easy child who had never put up much of a fuss, and it wasn’t like he was clumsy on purpose. Still, this orphanage had only been his home for the last six months and he wasn’t too sad to leave it.

He was nervous, though, and with good reason. There was so much of this new world that he didn’t know and he had no one to guide him through it.

“We’re all a bit nervous at first,” Junmyeon, the shopkeep at a place called Flourish and Blotts, told him. “But you’ll love Hogwarts. Everyone does.”

“I have to get there first,” said Jongin sullenly. He’d looked at his ticket for the Hogwarts Express and already knew there was no such thing as a Platform 9 3/4. How he was going to get to this mysterious school, he had no idea.

Junmyeon smiled a secret smile and said, “Run head on and you’ll be fine.”

And Jongin was fine, eventually. Though it did take him a few tries to get through the barrier since he kept chickening out at the last minute before he could crack his head on the bricks.

Once he was in, there was the train. That was fine; he’d been on trains before at least.

And finally, finally, there was Hogwarts. It shone like a beacon for his future as he and the rest of the first years took the boats toward the castle.

“Magnificent, ain’t it?” Hagrid, his guide, asked gruffly. He sounded a bit choked up. Jongin, last off the train and the only first year in the boat with the groundskeeper, understood the feeling.

He was still a bit overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted as he followed a little behind the rest of the first years into the castle and up a staircase. He didn’t even notice he’d turned the wrong way until he looked up and found himself all alone in a long corridor.

Nothing around him looked familiar. Jongin remembered a rumor he’d heard on the train about staircases that changed. He supposed that must be what had happened, though he hadn’t felt anything suspicious moving beneath his feet.

Thankfully there was, a little ways down the hallway, a book laid open on a pedestal. Jongin hoped it might be a map--he’d seen the sort at shopping centers and the one time he’d visited an adventure park--and stepped forward to take a look.

The closer he got, the surer he felt that this book would take him where he needed to go. It wasn’t a feeling Jongin understood, especially since the book itself turned out to be blank. Still, he touched the open pages curiously and watched in awe as ink began to spread across the paper, forming a map.

It was precisely as Jongin had feared: he was lost. Not hopelessly, though, for he was able to find his name beside a pair of stationary footprints and, from there, figured out a way to get to the only other name and footprints he recognized, Hagrid’s.

Hagrid’s feet were still moving, though, so Jongin took a last peek at the map and ran back the way he came.

He found the gaggle of first years right as Hagrid was walking away. The woman who stepped up to take his place before the students seemed stern and orderly, though no more severe than any of the matrons at the houses where Jongin had grown up. She frowned at Jongin’s late arrival but was luckily distracted by another first year’s frantic search for his lost toad. Eventually Trevor, the toad, was recovered safely and the woman introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House.

Jongin didn’t know anything about the Hogwarts house system. But aside from a bushy-haired girl in front of him who was whispering excitedly about lions and bravery, everyone else seemed just as unprepared. Jongin met the eyes of two boys standing beside him. They shrugged and smiled mischievously, and Jongin figured he’d be okay.

In the end it didn’t matter anyway. Though his new friends, Baekhyun and Jongdae, did end up as Gryffindors, Jongin himself was sorted into Hufflepuff.

**First Year: Part Two**

Harry Potter became the youngest seeker in a century, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side was declared strictly off limits, and Professor Quirrell discovered a troll in the dungeon. Most important, however, was the long-awaited arrival of Jongin’s first Hogwarts Christmas.

He stayed, of course; he had nowhere else to go and Baekhyun and Jongdae also chose to remain behind to keep him company over the holidays.

The three boys had a grand time of it. They were basically on their own in the enormous castle except for a couple of notable Gryffindors, some older Ravenclaws and Slytherins that Jongin vaguely recognized, and one other Hufflepuff. But Chanyeol Park was a second year and he spent most of his time with his own friends anyway, so Jongin saw very little of him during their break.

The few times Jongin did encounter Chanyeol in the common room or the Great Hall, though, the elder always made sure to smile and say hello. He’d even affectionately ruffled Jongin’s hair once. That morning Jongin had arrived to breakfast with his hair mussed and his face flushed, and Baekhyun and Jongdae didn’t let him live it down for the rest of the holiday.

After Christmas came the cold dampness of January in Scotland and Jongin saw much more of Chanyeol when they both ended up in the infirmary with the flu.

“You’re a muggle-born, aren’t you?” Chanyeol asked. He seemed more intrigued than disgusted, and Jongin had been at Hogwarts long enough by then to know which pureblood families cared about blood purity and which families did not.

So he answered honestly, if a bit shyly. “Um, I’m not sure actually,” Jongin said with a small shrug. “I never knew my parents.”

Chanyeol, who had recently received an embarrassingly concerned Howler from his mother regarding his illness, replied feelingly, “You’re lucky then.”

Jongin’s answering laughter soon turned into a hacking cough. Chanyeol sneezed in sympathy and, from then on, the two were fast friends.

Jongin still spent most of his time with Baekhyun and Jongdae, but many of the remaining winter evenings saw Jongin and Chanyeol studying side-by-side in front of their common room fire.

When the weather warmed and it was safe to venture outside again, Jongin excitedly dragged his two friends to watch Chanyeol play Beater for Hufflepuff against Ravenclaw. Baekhyun teased him mercilessly, calling his obsession with Chanyeol hero worship. Jongdae, himself gazing starry-eyed at Chanyeol’s Slytherin friend, Sehun, said that he thought it was sweet and that Baekhyun should shut up about it.

“Or what?” Baekhyun taunted.

“I’ll tell Auntie,” Jongdae countered smugly. “She’s scarier than Professor Snape with his robes on fire.”

Baekhyun pouted but did as instructed, at least until the end of the match. Later though, after Jongin blushingly congratulated Chanyeol on Hufflepuff’s victory and was given a sweaty hug for is trouble, Baekhyun’s teasing returned in full force and didn’t die down for at least a week.

Soon enough, though, Jongin had greater things to worry about than Baekhyun’s good-natured ribbing. End-of-term exams were looming and, to make matters worse, Jongin had nowhere to go for the summer.

One warm evening toward the end of May, Chanyeol was up late studying for the next morning’s History of Magic exam and Jongin, who couldn’t sleep, lay with his head in Chanyeol’s lap as he glumly considered his housing options.

The home he’d come from was out of the question; apparently his Head of House had contacted the matron there and she’d denied any knowledge of a former ward named Jongin Kim. He had no family to speak of, obviously, and Baekhyun and Jongdae would have been happy to have him, but the cousins were traveling to a family reunion in Korea and would be gone all summer.

“You could always ask Chanyeol if you can stay with him,” Jongdae had suggested at dinner that night, and now Jongin couldn’t get the thought out of his head.

It made him nervous, the thought of spending three glorious months with Chanyeol. But Jongin was also reminded of his younger self who, at the beginning of the year, had been similarly nervous about going to Hogwarts. His first year had gone brilliantly, he thought, so maybe this would too.

“Hyung,” he said then, feeling sort of like a Gryffindor with how brave he was being, “what’re you doing this summer?”

**Second Year: Part One**

Three months in California at Chanyeol’s parents’ vineyard left Jongin quite a bit tanner and more muscular than he’d been at the start of summer. He’d also grown a lot since June, enough that Baekhyun and Jongdae claimed not to recognize him with he met them at Platform 9 3/4 on September 1.

“Who is this tall drink of water, Baek?” Jongdae asked his cousin cheekily. “Surely not our baby Jonginnie!”

Jongin blushed. Chanyeol, who had left to say hello to his friends and was now walking by with Sehun, stopped to pinch Jongin’s cheek and coo at him obnoxiously.

“Stop that,” he whined, swatting at Chanyeol’s hands. “I’m not a baby.”

And, indeed, he was a baby no longer. Now 12, Jongin was firmly on his way to puberty; at 13, Chanyeol, much to Jongin’s chagrin, had already arrived.

As the last lingering days of summer faded into an early fall, Chanyeol’s voice lowered at least an octave, maybe two. He was already tall for his age, but he grew until he was even taller than most of his fellow third years, and even a few of the fourth years. Not even Chanyeol’s face could escape the changes of adolescence. As his cheeks hollowed out and he lost his baby face, Chanyeol stopped being merely cute and grew into a full-blown hottie.

These upgrades were the bane of Jongin’s existence all the time, but particularly in the months of November and December. To celebrate Halloween, the Hufflepuff Quidditch team had stripped down to their underwear and chased Peeves through the halls after curfew. It was quite out of character, according to Junmyeon, the Head Boy, so he’d let the team off with a warning, ordered enough pumpkin pasties to feed the whole population of Hufflepuff House, and sent them all back to their dorm with a laugh and a “Happy Halloween!”

Jongin was waiting anxiously with the rest of Hufflepuff and cheered when their team appeared in the common room not only unscathed but also bearing treats. He reached for a pasty but froze when a shirtless Chanyeol brushed past him, grabbed a pasty, split it in two, and then handed half to Jongin.

“Here,” Chanyeol said, his smile wide. “I know it upsets your stomach if you eat too much sweets before bed. Share with me?”

Jongin didn’t answer--couldn’t answer. Instead he turned tail and fled to his room, leaving Chanyeol behind.

That night Jongin had his first of many wet dreams and it took at least until December before he was able to look Chanyeol in the face again.

“Oh, you’re staying behind again this year?” The older Hufflepuff asked, a little bewildered by Jongin’s recent shyness but happy that his friend was acting normally around him again. “Then I’ll stay too,” Chanyeol decided.

**Second Year: Part Two**

Christmas was a non-event, as much as such a holiday can be when spent with the object of one’s budding affections. That year, for Jongin at least, the real big deal was Valentine’s Day.

Professor Lockhart’s brilliant scheme of cupid-dwarves as a morale booster was truly a terrible idea. Still, Jongin was inspired to share his feelings through an anonymous poem delivered to Chanyeol at breakfast. He was seated beside his friend at the Hufflepuff table when the mail came and was immensely pleased when Chanyeol read his note twice, first to himself and then aloud.

“Who do you think it could be, Jonginnie?” Chanyeol asked in wonder.

Later, when Chanyeol admitted that he’d never received a valentine before this one, Jongin had to cover his face with his hands to hide his giddy smile. He liked being Chanyeol’s first for something, even if he couldn’t be Chanyeol’s first love.

That privilege, instead, went to Sandara Park, Chanyeol’s fellow third year and a Gryffindor who brashly--and falsely--admitted to sending the poem that Jongin had so painstakingly written. Chanyeol and Dara started dating right before Junmyeon discovered Hermione Granger petrified outside the library. They were still dating by the end of term and it took everything in Jongin to smile and say he was happy for his friend when Chanyeol told him he wanted to take Dara with him to California that summer.

“I’ll still write though,” Chanyeol promised. He was so earnest, like a puppy, and Jongin couldn’t stay mad at him for long, even if it hurt a little to see Chanyeol and Dara together.

“You’d better,” Jongin said, and left it at that. It wasn’t Chanyeol’s fault Jongin had a creepy coming-of-age crush on him; if friends were all he and Chanyeol would ever be, Jongin was going to take what he could get and learn to be happy with it.

**Third Year: Part One**

Third year started with a bang when the Dementors stopped the Express on its way to Hogwarts. Jongin heard that some student on the other end of the train fainted from fear but he, Jongdae, and Baekhyun didn’t even catch a glimpse of the supposedly fearsome creatures.

Jongin didn’t see Chanyeol, either, though he was still dating Dara and his absence wasn’t particularly surprising. Chanyeol with a girlfriend was a Chanyeol with a lot less time for Jongin, after all.

In fact, Jongin didn’t really see Chanyeol until well into September when Hufflepuff played Slytherin in the first Quidditch match of the pre-season. The game technically didn’t count where the House Cup was concerned, but it mattered to Chanyeol so it mattered to Jongin. And where Jongin went, so did the other two.

“Your boyfriend doesn’t look too good,” Baekhyun noted with concern.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Jongin grumbled, tired of the teasing.

Jongdae added “He’s not Dara’s boyfriend either, last I heard.”

This was news indeed.

“What?” Jongin asked, speechless. He didn’t like the couple for his own reasons, but even he could admit they looked cute together.

“Yeah,” said Jongdae as he leaned conspiratorially toward Jongin. “Apparently he found out that she’s not the secret admirer who sent him that letter last year.”

Jongin gaped; Baekhyun and Jongdae exchanged a knowing look.

“Poor Chanyeol,” Jongin said, once he’d recovered from his shock. “He must be having such a hard time right now.”

“All the more reason to comfort him after the match,” Baekhyun suggested slyly. Jongin rolled his eyes but didn’t protest and instead returned his attention to the game. Hufflepuff lost when Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin Seeker, caught the Snitch, and Jongin watched as Chanyeol’s shoulders slumped and his frown deepened even further.

He gestured blindly toward the field. “I’m gonna go..” he said, trailing off as Baekhyun and Jongdae waved him away with matching smiles.

“We get it,” Baekhyun told him. He was being uncharacteristically sweet and understanding.

“Go get your man!” added Jongdae and Jongin grinned back at them. Now that behavior was more like it.

He didn’t get his man. But Jongin did get his friend back, and it wasn’t long before he and Chanyeol were studying side-by-side in front of the fire just like they used to.

Soon September became October and Halloween, this year, was much less personally eventful than the last. The evening turned out to be quite fantastically dangerous when Sirius Black got into the castle and all the students were made to sleep in the Great Hall, but as far as Jongin’s libido was concerned, Halloween his third year was not nearly as enlightening as the holiday had been the year before.

Instead, during the day, Jongin and his friends were finally able to venture out into Hogsmeade, the neighboring town. They made the most of the opportunity by splitting their day equally between Honeydukes, the sweets shop, and Zonko’s, the joke shop, and, like most young teenage boys, they jeered appropriately at Madam Puddifoot’s when they passed it, though Jongin did have the errant thought that he wouldn’t mind visiting the little tea shop someday.

But only with Chanyeol, of course.

The three third years venture out to Hogsmeade again at Christmas, this time to search for gifts. November had been a difficult month for Hufflepuff’s Quidditch team in particular, and Jongin was itching to find the perfect present to give Chanyeol for Christmas and, hopefully, improve his friend’s still-somber mood. Though things were basically back to how they’d been before Dara, Chanyeol still had the occasional melancholic moment, and Jongin wanted to change that.

The gift Jongin finally decided on didn’t end up being from Hogsmeade after all, but it did help. When Chanyeol pulled Jongin close for a goodbye hug before he went to France to see his parents and Jongin stayed behind, Chanyeol tilted his head until his mouth brushed Jongin’s ear and whispered, “I’ll treasure it, Jonginnie. I won’t even take it off to shower, I promise.”

Jongin didn’t even need a real Christmas present from Chanyeol, not with that parting moment forever seared in his brain. Still, he appreciated the Hufflepuff-themed scarf he knew Chanyeol had knitted by hand in his Muggle Studies class; and if Jongin happened to hold it close as he lay alone in the Hufflepuff dormitory, well, that was no one’s business but his own.

**Third Year: Part Two**

Jongin did not get to wear his prized scarf for long. Once Christmas passed into New Year’s, spring crept up quite quickly. There was another incident regarding Sirius Black, and the school’s increased security protocols led Jongin to question whether or not Hogwarts was actually safe.

It was not a safe place for his heart, at the very least.

The Easter holidays swept away the last lingering sadness in Chanyeol and he returned an entirely reformed person. Unfortunately for Jongin, this transformation also included additional physical changes such as another growth spurt, further slimming of Chanyeol’s face and chest, and a frankly obscene broadening of Chanyeol’s shoulders that woke Jongin up, sweating and painfully hard, every night for at least a week.

Such desire-fueled behavior made sleeping difficult and Jongin often found himself dozing against Chanyeol’s shoulder or with his head in Chanyeol’s lap as he tried, and failed, to study for his end-of-term exams.

“It’ll be fine,” he yawned to Chanyeol at breakfast one June morning after a particularly exhausting night. He’d come two times, once onto the scarf, and Jongin was so tired he couldn’t even be embarrassed about it.

“I’ll just fail and live with Hagrid out in his hut,” he continued sleepily.

“I could always take you to California,” Chanyeol countered as if that wasn’t already the plan for the coming summer. “You could be my cabana boy.”

Startled, Jongin choked mid-sip on his pumpkin juice. Chanyeol laughed, clapped him hard on the back when he started coughing, and grinned.

**Fourth Year: Part One**

Summer in California was cut short by the Quidditch World Cup, not that Jongin minded. Chanyeol’s family had a box and Jongin, Chanyeol, Sehun, Jongdae, and Baekhyun enjoyed the match immensely.

They didn’t even find out about Death Eaters attacking the camp until school started and rumours started to fly about certain Slytherin families. Though a pureblood, Chanyeol was also a Hufflepuff and remained largely unscathed. Sehun, on the other hand, was both a pureblood and a Slytherin, and there was more than one hex thrown his way on the train. Jongdae was quick to call out Sehun’s attackers as cowards, and the gratefully admiring look Sehun sent Jongdae’s way suggested an interesting year ahead.

Sehun and Jongdae weren’t the only two to find love that fall, though. Baekhyun took one look at Kyungsoo Do, a Durmstrang student who was visiting for the Triwizard Tournament, and swore he’d fallen in love at first sight. Kyungsoo was, unsurprisingly, less convinced, but Baekhyun was persistent and by the First Task in November the two were inseparable.

It seemed to Jongin that, while everyone around him was falling in love and finding happiness, he was destined to be forever alone. Not even Cedric Diggory’s success with the First Task was enough to distract Jongin from this sadness. Activities that he used to do with Jongdae and Baekhyun were now things that his friends did with their respective boyfriends, and Chanyeol was so busy preparing for his O.W.L.S. that he didn’t have much time for Jongin either.

Jongin decided against going to Hogsmeade the weekend before the holidays. He didn’t have any formal robes and he hadn’t had the chance to buy any that summer, but neither did he have a date to the Yule Ball, and he didn’t fancy going into town by himself to purchase something he wasn’t going to get to use anyway.

He waved his friends off the night of the Ball and told them he was quite alright being left in front of his common room fire while they went and had fun without him.

“I don’t mean that the way it sounds,” he said when Baekhyun frowned and asked if he really was okay not going. “I’m perfectly happy here.”

It took a few more more minutes to convince the cousins and their boyfriends that they should get going, but eventually the four left him at the Hufflepuff dormitory door with promises to bring him back some sweets at the end of the night.

With a sigh, Jongin let himself into the common room and stopped short at the sight of a sleeping Chanyeol stretched out on the couch before the fire. He’d thought for sure that Chanyeol of all people would have no problem getting a date to the Ball. Jongin certainly wouldn’t have turned him down if Chanyeol had asked.

But he hadn’t asked, and Chanyeol was taking an Arithmancy cram course over break so they hadn’t even had a chance to speak since the Christmas holidays began.

Jongin silently stepped forward and slipped the textbook Chanyeol was holding onto the floor. He grabbed a throw from off a nearby armchair and covered Chanyeol with it as gently and quietly as he could.

With one last, lingering look over his shoulder, Jongin made his way into his room and left Chanyeol to sleep.

**Fourth Year: Part Two**

New Year’s and Valentine’s Day came and went unnoticed in the shadow of the Second Task. Jongin joined his friends at the lake to cheer for Cedric and teased Baekhyun about being whipped when Kyungsoo somehow convinced Baekhyun to cheer for Victor Krum instead of his House’s own champion. The group applauded appropriately when Harry Potter displayed incredible valor and bravery by rescuing not only Ron Weasley but also Fleur Delacour’s little sister, Gabrielle. Jongin and Chanyeol also managed to sneak the others into the Hufflepuff celebration for Cedric and Harry’s joint victory and everyone got way too tipsy on their first taste of spiked butterbeer.

“I’m going to walk you home,” Chanyeol informed Jongin firmly, though his vision was a little blurry and he swayed a bit when he stood up from the couch.

Jongin snickered; had Chanyeol always been this wonderful?

“I live here,” he said, still giggling as Chanyeol approached.

“I’m glad,” Chanyeol replied. “I like you a lot. I’m glad,” he repeated, then leaned over to Jongin, now almost exactly his height, and brushed a kiss across his cheek.

“You don’t mean that,” said Jongin through his blush. “Not like I do at least.”

“Ask me when I’m sober, Jongin,” Chanyeol murmured against his cheek. “You might be surprised.”

The next morning, though, Jongin took one look at Chanyeol’s tired, beautiful face, and decided that he wasn’t quite brave enough for that conversation. Not yet.

By the time Jongin was ready--or as ready as he’d ever be--Cedric was killed in the Third Task, Harry Potter came out of the maze raving about Voldemort’s return, and it was too late.

**Fifth Year: Part One**

Unable to face Chanyeol, and his feelings for the older boy, Jongin spent the summer with Baekhyun and Jongdae at their grandmother’s house in Seoul. Kyungsoo was also around for a while before he had to return to school but neither Sehun nor Chanyeol visited at all that summer. They didn’t even send letters.

By the beginning of term Jongin was so worried that he didn’t even care about rejection anymore. The next time he saw Chanyeol, he was going to confess; he had waited too long and life was too short to be anything but happy.

Despite this resolve, it ended up being a few weeks before Jongin had the chance to confess properly. Their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Dolores Umbridge, was making up all sorts of rules and educational decrees about what students could and could not do. Her presence was quite the change from the more laidback years Jongin had previously spent at Hogwarts. He knew that Professor Umbridge harbored a passionate hatred toward half-breeds and was not sure how she felt about same-sex relationships but didn’t think it safe to find out.

Instead of some highly public event, then, Jongin decided to confess simply. He rewrote the poem he’d composed for Chanyeol Second Year and again had it delivered with the mail. This time, though, he signed his name at the bottom and included a time and place for Chanyeol to meet him if he reciprocated Jongin’s feelings.

That night spent waiting in the owlery was one of the longest of Jongin’s life. Despite their encounter at the party the year before, and Jongdae and Baekhyun’s assurances that Chanyeol was head-over-heels for him, Jongin couldn’t help being nervous.

What if Chanyeol’s parents had a problem with Jongin’s heritage? He couldn’t help being muggle-born and Chanyeol’s parents had always liked him, but tensions around blood purity had been rising since the Quidditch World Cup and maybe things had changed. Sehun’s parents, for example, were increasingly strict about who their son spent time with, and he and Jongdae had to stage a huge, public break-up at the start of term feast. They’d continued dating in secret ever since.

Jongin didn’t want Chanyeol to be a secret.

But he didn’t want to get Chanyeol in trouble either, not with the way the world was going. This clandestine meeting was his happy medium and he waited with bated breath as he watched the minutes click down to curfew and hoped against hope that Chanyeol would come.

And Chanyeol did come, but not soon enough. Before he could arrive, disheveled and out of breath but holding tightly to a potions phial and Jongin’s note, Umbridge got there first. By the time Chanyeol reached the top of the staircase, the owlery was empty.

“You’ll be coming with me, then,” Professor Umbridge told Jongin sternly. A flick of her wand cast a charm that pinched Jongin’s ear and dragged him after her toward her office. By this point she had already instituted herself as the Hogwarts High Inquisitor, and Jongin had no idea what to expect of her wrath. It was now after curfew, and no one even knew where he was; in short, Jongin was in very big trouble.

The charm pinching his ear pulled Jongin to a seat at a small, round tea table in the corner of Umbridge’s office. With another flick of her wand, Umbridge directed a heavy tome to land on the table as she took a seat across from Jongin.

“This,” she informed him, “is a book of very high-level magic. I wouldn’t expect a child like you to understand its intricate complexities, but you’ll be able to use if for my purposes nonetheless.”

Umbridge tapped the book with her wand and it opened to a place near the middle. “Look at the map I’m going to bring up in a moment. I’m not stupid, you know; I know you were going to be meeting someone after curfew. Point him out to me and I won’t punish you for your,” she paused to find the word she wanted, “perversion. Just for being out of bed.”

In that moment Jongin decided he hated this woman who wore pink like a uniform and dispensed her bigotry like bird feed with no cares to the painful consequences. Her words hurt and he was glad that Chanyeol had not come to meet him, if only because his absence kept Chanyeol safe from this.

Jongin could not linger long on this hatred, though, because the pages of the book were familiarly blank, as was the compulsion to touch the paper and see what secrets would be revealed. Before Umbridge could stop him--and she did try--Jongin brushed his fingertips along the edge of the page and…

Everything disappeared.

**From Fifth Year to the End: The Continuing Story**

Jongin didn’t recognize the room he was in when he woke up. It definitely wasn’t the pink monstrosity of an office he’d apparently passed out in. It was an office though, that much was certain.

“Where am I?” he whispered to himself in utter confusion.

“The Headmaster’s office, Mr. Kim,” a voice he recognized as Professor McGonagall’s answered from somewhere behind him. Last he’d checked, Professor Dumbledore was still the Headmaster of Hogwarts, so this was a surprising change. Then again, Umbridge had been pretty agressive in her recent reforms; for all Jongin knew, she’d somehow gotten Dumbledore replaced in the time he’d been unconscious.

“Where’s the Headmaster?” Jongin asked, still feeling off-balanced and confused.

“I am the Headmistress now, Mr. Kim,” she answered gently, stepping around to stand in front of him. “I have been for quite a few years actually.”

“You--? What?” This was a lot for Jongin to take in. “Professor Dumbledore was Headmaster just this morning! I don’t understand.”

Headmistress McGonagall sighed and gestured for Jongin to sit. He was grateful for it; he wasn’t sure how much longer he could have stayed upright otherwise.

“You’ve been missing since the fall of 1997, Jongin,” she explained. “It wasn’t until you enrolled for your first year in 2001 that I began to understand what had happened.”

“Well that makes one of us,” replied Jongin promptly. “I don’t understand anything.”

McGonagall sighed again. “Upon your arrival as a first year, you somehow encountered some very old magic and were sent so seamlessly back in time that you didn’t even notice. Since no one knew to check your timestamp, you slipped under our radar and attended Hogwarts for your first through fifth years.”

At this, Jongin nodded. Finally some information he knew to be true.

“That’s when things get complicated,” said McGonagall. Jongin was respectful enough not to snort in disbelief, but just barely. Things were already complicated as far as he was concerned.

“The last thing anyone knows is that Dolores Umbridge took you to her office on the night of October 27, 1997. There I assume you again encountered that same old magic and it brought you here, to my office, in 2005. October 27, 2005, to be precise.”

Jongin was speechless. It was 2005? How old did that make him? How old did that make everyone else?

“To be frank,” McGonagall said, “you disappeared right before things went to hell and reappeared right as things are starting to settle down again. That’s quite a blessing, Jongin, even if it doesn’t seem that way right now.”

She left off her explanation there and insisted on a visit to the infirmary to check that the uncontrolled time travel hadn’t done any lasting damage to Jongin’s health. Once a nurse he didn’t recognize confirmed that he’d be fine, Professor McGonagall led Jongin to the Hufflepuff dormitory and told him to get some rest.

“You’ve had a long day and it is after curfew,” she said. “I’ll talk to you again tomorrow, Mr. Kim.”

The following day Jongin was collected before breakfast by a professor he didn’t know. The professor took him back the Headmistress’ office where McGonagall fed him tea and bacon sandwiches while they discussed next steps.

“I’ve arranged an immediate transfer to the Ilvermorny School in America,” Professor McGonagall informed him. Before Jongin could get out a word of protest she said, “I believe this is for the best, Mr. Kim. Hogwarts not only holds a lot of undoubtedly complex memories for you, but it also carries a strong impression of your altered time stream. To finish your schooling here could be dangerous for both yourself and your fellow students.”

Jongin supposed that made some sense; he didn’t want to make Hogwarts unsafe for everyone else who’d found a home and a family there. On the other hand, he didn’t want to just leave. What about the friends he’d made? Surely Baekhyun and Jongdae would want to know that he was back?

He couldn’t even think about Chanyeol. To Jongin, of course, their ill-fated meeting was supposed to have happened a mere night before. To Chanyeol, though, it had been literal years. If it really was 2005 like Professor McGonagall said, Chanyeol was 24; Jongin had been missing for eight years and it pained him to think about but he hoped that by now Chanyeol would have moved on.

It was that thought which prompted Jongin to say, “Okay, Headmistress. I’ll go to America if that’s what you think is best.”

Less than an hour later Jongin found himself in Massachusetts, ready to spend the next two and a half years finishing out his education in a completely different time and place than where he’d started.

Ilvermorny wasn’t a terrible place. The few summers Jongin had spent with Chanyeol in California helped him acclimate relatively quickly to the American way of life; and, since the school had an internship program for upperclassmen students with nowhere to go during the summer holidays, Jongin didn’t even have to worry about being homeless from June through September.

Unfortunately, said program also meant he had no opportunity to return to the UK and visit his friends on his time off. Jongin had no idea if Professor McGonagall had informed anyone of his return; when he’d asked her right before she’d apparated him away to America, McGonagall had been suspiciously close-mouthed about the whole thing. Perhaps that meant she hadn’t said anything after all. Jongin certainly hadn’t received any letters or visitors to indicate that the boys he’d once called friends knew that he was no longer missing.

In his Sixth Year, Jongin took a class called a Modern History of Magic. Finally he learned about all that had happened in Britain since his disappearance, specifically the persecution of muggle-borns and so-called “blood traitors,” the second rise of Voldemort, and the Battle of Hogwarts. To Jongin’s dismay, nobody at Ilvermorny could tell him if Jongdae, Baekhyun, Sehun, and Chanyeol had even survived the war. Perhaps that was the reason McGonagall had been so reluctant to talk to him about his friends.

In any case, it wasn’t something Jongin wanted to think about. Eventually, as his Sixth Year ended and he began his Seventh, and final Year, Jongin didn’t have time to think about anything other than passing his N.E.W.T.S. McGonagall had somehow arranged for him to take the exams remotely so that he could get a job back in the UK after graduation if he wanted. Jongin did want to return home someday, if only to visit the graves of his friends and pay his respects, so he committed all of his free time to studying and barely left his room for the entirety of his final year.

The few friends he’d made at Ilvermorny were all Seventh Years like him and in the same boat regarding their own exams, so Jongin didn’t miss much. When Jongin finally graduated in May of his Seventh Year, he was freshly 18, had a whole collection of E’s and A’s on his N.E.W.T.S., and was set to start an apprenticeship with the Department of Mysteries in the fall. There he hoped to work his way up to an Unspeakable so he could study the Time Room and possibly figure out what happened to him so that he could keep it from happening to anyone else.

Leaving Ilvermorny behind was bittersweet, more than Jongin was expecting it to be. The school had been a haven while Jongin came to terms with what he’d gone through; it wasn’t a war, but he’d still needed to heal, and he was grateful that his time at Ilvermorny had allowed for that.

Still, Jongin was quick to apparate directly to Diagon Alley as soon as he was able and was struck breathless with relief when the first thing to catch his eye was a giant poster of a grinning Chanyeol in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. He was wearing the blue and gold of Puddlemere United and waving happily from his broom; around his wrist, Jongin noticed, was a familiar gift from Jongin’s Third Year, and around his neck hung a miniaturized potions phial. Tattooed around his other wrist were words that Jongin also recognized--he’d written them, after all.

With a shout that probably startled half the shoppers in North Side, Jongin rushed toward the Half-Price Ticket booth set up outside the Quidditch shop and immediately bought a ticket for the next Puddlemere match. Though the ticket cost him a pretty penny, Jongin didn’t care; the match was set for that very afternoon and Jongin couldn’t wait to see his friend again. In that moment it didn’t even matter if Chanyeol had found new love in someone else; all Jongin cared about was that his friend was alive. After all they’d been through, both together and separately, life was really all that mattered.

Jongin was still nervous though. He wasn’t sure how Chanyeol was going to react and without Baekhyun and Jongdae there as buffers and loyal wingmen, Jongin didn’t know if he was brave enough for this.

As he handed his ticket to the person at the stadium gate, Jongin suddenly remembered the words of the wise shopkeep he’d encountered right before he’d started at Hogwarts.

“We’re all a bit nervous at first,” Junmyeon had told him. It occurred to Jongin in that moment that the shopkeep was the same Junmyeon who served as Head Boy Jongin’s Second Year; had Junmyeon recognized him as the missing Jongin Kim when he’d shown up at Flourish and Blotts all those years ago? Truthfully it didn’t matter if he had, not right then anyway. Jongin cared more about the advice Junmyeon had given him about getting onto the platform: “Run head on and you’ll be fine.”

So that’s what Jongin did. He ran past the ticket-checker at the gate, raced around the stands dodging security guards, and finally made it to the Puddlemere locker room just as the team was preparing to fly onto the pitch.

“Chanyeol,” he shouted desperately as security caught up with him. He couldn’t even see Chanyeol through the crowd of players, managers, and coaches, but Jongin had to trust that this would work. “It’s Jongin, Chanyeol! Chanyeol!”

“Jongin?” he heard a deep voice cry as security dragged him away. “Wait, Jongin!”

There was some sort of tussle as Chanyeol broke through the security guards and made his way to Jongin.

“Let Dobbin play for me this match,” he shouted over his shoulder at his confused team members. “Something’s come up.”

With that taken care of, Chanyeol turned toward Jongin and, for the first time in a long time, the two friends stood face-to-face and looked their fill.

“You’re taller than I remember,” Jongin said eventually, awkward.

Chanyeol coughed and ran a hand through the hair at his nape. “Yeah, I had a growth spurt toward the end of Seventh Year,” he said, shuffling closer almost unconsciously. “Haven’t grown since then though. You’re, uh, pretty different looking too actually.”

Jongin hadn’t really considered that he might look as changed too Chanyeol as Chanyeol did to him. His own youthful appearance embarrassed him when faced with Chanyeol’s obvious physical maturity and he said bashfully, “Um, yes. I haven’t grown much since Fifth Year but--”

“But your voice is deeper,” Chanyeol interrupted. “And you’re tanner. Your hair’s longer too.” He sighed and stepped even closer so that they stood with their chests nearly touching and their faces barely a few inches apart. “What happened to you, Jongin? One minute I’m arriving to an empty owlery and worrying that you’ve changed your mind about me, and the next I find out you’ve disappeared completely. Now you’re here, nearly ten years later? It feels like a dream.”

Jongin lifted a hand to cup Chanyeol’s cheek. “I don’t know about all the rest,” he said softly, “but I do know I’ll never change my mind about you, Chanyeol. I don’t care if it’s past, present, or future; you’re it for me.”

Chanyeol closed his eyes and sighed, pressing his face into Jongin’s hand. The skin under Jongin’s palm warmed as Chanyeol blushed and Jongin couldn’t help the shy smile that snuck onto his face when Chanyeol finally wrapped his arms around Jongin and pulled him close.

“What about you, huh?” Jongin asked, his voice a soft whisper against Chanyeol’s throat. “I have been gone a long time and I know I have no right to expect anything, but have you changed your mind? About me?”

Instead of answering, Chanyeol kissed him.

**Epilogue**

“So let me get this straight,” Baekhyun said from his seat between his husband, Kyungsoo, and his cousin. Jongin was sad to have missed his friends’ wedding, but he was glad they had found their happiness in each other. He hoped that, someday soon, he and Chanyeol and Jongdae and Sehun would find similar happiness.

Baekhyun continued. “You actually started at Hogwarts after we graduated, but somehow ended up going back in time to be First Years with us?”

“Basically,” Jongin agreed, “yeah.”

He knew it was a lot to take in. He’d had years to process but Chanyeol, who’d known for months now, still sometimes looked at him like he couldn’t believe Jongin was real. Like he was something from a dream.

So really, Jongin didn’t know how Baekhyun and Jongdae would react. He hoped they’d be happy to see him, as Chanyeol had been, but really there was no way to know and he’d agonized over seeing them again.

He shouldn’t have. Once Baekhyun got his facts straight and Jongdae stopped cooing over how grown up their baby Jongin was now, everything was fine, just like Junmyeon had said it would be.

Baekhyun was even able to joke about how long it took for Chanyeol and Jongin to finally get together. And then he embarrassed Jongin further by asking if Jongin, now eight years Chanyeol’s junior instead of just one, liked to call Chanyeol “Daddy” during sex.

“What?” he whined indignantly when Kyungsoo smacked the back of his head and Jongdae burst out laughing at Chanyeol and Jongin’s obvious discomfort. “Jonginnie’s practically jailbait. I’m not kink-shaming, just a little curious!”

Jongin was quick to inform his friend that, no, he did not call Chanyeol anything kinky during sex, especially not something so reminiscent of all the time they’d spent apart.

“Ah, whatever,” Baekhyun said with a knowing smile. “You two are still in your honeymoon phase. In a year from now, when things stop being all rainbows and butterflies and start getting interesting, let me know. I’ll be here to tell you I told you so.”

Jongin liked the idea of having his found family still around him in a year. He liked it a lot.

And he especially liked the arm Chanyeol wrapped around his shoulders and the “I love you” Chanyeol mouthed when Jongin looked up at him. Chanyeol would still be around in a year because Chanyeol, Jongin now knew, wasn’t going anywhere.

He’d waited nearly ten years for Jongin and he was going to be around forever.

Jongin smiled, leaned happily into Chanyeol’s side, and whispered back, “I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so there're some things that I wanted to include but couldn't make work, including:
> 
> 1\. The phial that Chanyeol keeps is Amortentia that he brewed in Sixth Year. He brought it to the owlery with him because he wanted to show Jongin that the potion smells like Jongin and that he's serious about them. He keeps it because the scent never changes, and he eventually charms it smaller so he can wear it for good luck during matches.
> 
> 2\. In Third Year Jongin gives Chanyeol a cherry quartz power bead friendship bracelet. (Any 90's kids in the house?) He has a matching one that he stored under his bed with the scarf Chanyeol gave him. Sadly both items were somehow lost during the years Jongin was missing.
> 
> 3\. At the end of the fic Jongin is 18; Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, and Jongdae are 24/25; and Chanyeol and Sehun are 26/27. I didn't want Jongin to be underage when he reunited with Chanyeol; that's why I made him graduate first.
> 
> 4\. Chanyeol also has a line from Jongin's love poem tatooed across his pectoral, over his heart. This is not relevant to the story at all, but I thought you might want to know.
> 
> If anyone's confused about the timelines of this story, hit me up after reveals. I'm still a little confused myself so I'd be happy to hear your theories. Thank you!


End file.
